Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta hopes his team can seal their progress into the UEFA Champions League knockout phase early enough after recording a hard-fought 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night, Afrosport reports.
An own goal by Shakhtar shot-stopper Dmytro Riznyk made the difference for the Gunners and sees them sit in fourth spot on the expanded league standings with five games to go.
Only the top eight will qualify automatically to the round of 16 with teams from ninth to 24th doing battle in a playoff to determine the other eight participants.
While Arteta acknowledged the difficulty with the new format, he emphasised the importance of getting home wins, with the usual two-legged tie against the same opponent cancelled in this round.
“That would be great but at the moment very difficult to look at the table because it will change and the amount of games and different opponents that we playing, but Champions League, a win, a win at home, in this format especially is key keeping the clean sheet but the amount of injuries we are dealing, the situation we are dealing, happy and let’s move on,” he said.
Arsenal will now turn their attention to a crunch Premier League tie with Liverpool while their next Champions League match is away at Serie A champions Inter Milan on November 6.
